Feb 15, 2007 10:41 pm US/Central
Will Reparations Stance Hurt Obama Campaign?
Issue Could Make Or Break Popularity With Some Black Voters
by Mike Parker
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
The subject of slavery reparations, payment to African Americans for the horrors of slavery, is a touchy one. For presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, it may be a make or break issue for him with some black voters.
As CBS 2's Mike Parker reports, as Obama campaigns, questions about reparations are sure to be asked.
"We have congressman Conyers who has come up with a reparations bill for a number of years and every term he picks up more and more cosponsors," said WVON radio host Cliff Kelly.
If support for reparations becomes a litmus test for some African American voters, Obama may not pass it.
During his 2004 senate race against Obama, Republican Alan Keyes endorsed the idea.
"And for a generation, two generations you exempt them from taxation," Keyes said in August 2004.
Obama's responded, "The legacy of slavery is immeasurable, but the best strategies for moving forward would be vigorously enforcing our anti-discrimination laws in education and job training."
Professor Michael Fauntroy, a Washington D.C. public policy professor at George Mason University, believes other issues - such as Iraq, education and health care mean more to most African americans,.
"Reparations, while important, is a little lower down the priority list and for that reason, even if his position isn't where some people would like it to be, he'll probably be all right," Fauntroy said.
In South Carolina, where Obama campaigns Friday, about half the Democratic primary voters are African American. Obama hopes he will do as well with them as he did with African American voters during his 2000 senate race; Obama captured 90 percent of the black vote in Illinois.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
